


the math of machines and monsters

by xiuchens



Series: a study of love & washing machines [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, nerdy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 01:31:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11280945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiuchens/pseuds/xiuchens
Summary: baekhyun realizes things can only move forward, but when jongdae holds his hand not even double door fridges seem scary anymorea sequel to:the physics of balance





	the math of machines and monsters

baekhyun is sitting by the kitchen table, playing with a baby blue pencil, more drawing than actually writing on a notepad in front of him. he keeps listing appliances and furniture him and jongdae need to buy for their new apartment. a new couch because their current one has very questionable stains, new bedding that doesn't include movie characters, a new kitchen table because this one is crooked since they decided to get adventurous one night.

(they actually broke the table while playing a particularly heated game of charades with their friends minseok e kyungsoo. baekhyun got so frustrated at how bad jongdae was at it that he punched the fragile wooden furniture with crazy strength he never even knew he had and the tabletop had been crooked ever since. still, baekhyun thought it was fun to call it an adventurous night because that always got a reaction out of people)

jongdae just nods, eyes trained on the knife he's using the cut onions. baekhyun teases his boyfriend about the tears spilling out of him thanks to the hellish vegetable, but also quickly offers to help since he's “immune” to onions. jongdae scoffs and says he doesn't want baekhyun to cut off a finger because it’s too cold outside to take a trip to the emergency room.

“oh, and we need a washing machine and a dryer, do you think we’ll be able to afford all of that?” he asks jongdae, before getting a simple “hng” in response. thankfully baekhyun was already proficient in jongdae language by now. that included body language like touching his own hair when he was sleepy, rubbing his knee when sitting uncomfortably and his fake smile, the one jongdae saved for when one of their friends told a dad joke, he hated those the most.

but if there's one thing he learned over the past two and a half years with jongdae was that in his mind “hng” meant “yes, but should we? but it's a yes from me.” baekhyun heard it so many times before when he had terrible ideas that it doesn't even surprise him anymore. it's not like baekhyun had bad ideas all the time but yeah, he had bad ideas all the time and still jongdae went along with it.

“should we have sex in the shower?”  
“hng”  
(jongdae ended up elbowing him in the face accidentally)

“should we eat this yogurt? it expired two weeks ago.”  
“hng”  
(baekhyun threw up for a week and jongdae still can't have yogurt)

“we should move in together, i can't deal with chanyeol’s mess anymore”  
“hng”  
(to be fair he set himself up with this one. they only had been dating officially for three weeks when he said it. only after a few months he realized jongdae's answer meant that he would've moved in with baekhyun from the start, just to saved him from chanyeol’s mess, even if he wasn't really sure if they should)

when the holidays season comes along and baekhyun hopes he can take advantage of the many special offers and prices to buy stuff for their new home. they don't move in until february but he’s been researching for two months and now it's the right time to buy. when winter break starts at the school he teaches in, baekhyun drags jongdae around every store he can and together they buy everything they need. well, almost everything.

“we have two weeks to decide if we want to buy a washer and a dryer or a 2-in-1 machine. i’m not doing my winter laundry by hand, kim jongdae. my nails are very pretty these days, i’m not giving this up because you can't make a decision.” baekhyun was sprawled on top of his boyfriend, who was drawing circles on the small of his back, making baekhyun sleepy.

“i did decide, you just didn't like my decision. why are you so set on getting separate machines? our laundry room is small,” jongdae closed his eyes, also feeling sleepy while baekhyun was keeping him warm. he liked days like this, where they got to sleep at regular hours, together. since they decided to buy a new apartment baekhyun had taken extra hours by teaching literature classes for adults two nights a week and once every two saturday mornings. he had been pretty busy but they both agreed it was a sacrifice they were doing for their future and it was better if they did it while they were still young enough to keep up with things. 

jongdae had been a bar owner for the past year, after leaving his bartending job and investing in his lifelong dream with one of his closest friends, so that meant he still worked crazy hours but since the bar was doing well, he managed to organize his working days with his business partner so he only ever worked nights three times a week, as opposed to the six nights he worked when he and baekhyun got together. it was much easier to go on dates now and he loved spoiling baekhyun to make up for the time he was understanding of how jongdae was never available to attend their family gatherings or friends’ parties. baekhyun, he was sure, was the best thing that ever happened in his previously dull life, so it was only fair he made sure baekhyun knew that.

“okay, so tomorrow we'll go to the store and get the 2-in-1 washer dryer machine you want and we'll be ready to move in soon,” baekhyun said in a firm voice “now let me sleep because i'm tired, the kids were high on sugar today at school, for some reason. if i have to deal with one more person who doesn't know frankenstein is the creator and not the creature i will die.”

“....frankenstein is not the monster? are you sure?”

“oh my god shut up and let me sleep. also, read a book sometimes, for the love of god.”

“i do read books, i'm not stupid, baekhyun. good night babe”

 

it takes exactly 16 minutes for jongdae’s plans of quickly buying a machine and go back to the apartment to cook lunch to crash and burn. baekhyun is being difficult on purpose, criticising every single machine on the store, and jongdae knows it's on purpose, with the pout baekhyun sports along with raised eyebrows while making technical questions about the appliances. it makes him look like a seven year old who was just told he can't have candy for dinner, it's almost endearing. they return home empty-handed and jongdae announces they have to talk as soon as they step inside the apartment.

“do you not want to move into our new apartment?” he starts, as baekhyun settles himself on the ratty couch. “i know what you were trying to do today at the store and i almost had to laugh at how petty and childish you were being. are you getting cold feet?”

“that's...not it,” baekhyun starts. “i guess. well, i don't know. i really wanted us to have separate machines but i realize how stupid it is when our laundry room is small but i think we could fit it in,” he takes a deep breath before continuing “i like two machines because it makes me think of how we met, of how we helped each other doing the laundry and moving things from the washer to the dryer and i don't wanna lose that. i felt like we could have two machines and again, i know it's stupid, but then, if we can't agree on this, should we really move to a new place when we can't agree on something this stupid? what if we start disagreeing on other things because we decided it was time to be adults and do adult stuff like having our own laundry room and a double door fridge? none of our friends have that jongdae, what if we're not ready for fridges with two doors?”

jongdae just stares at him and starts laughing. “well, that was intense,” he says, kneeling in front of baekhyun, taking his boyfriend's hands in his. “baby,” he starts again, “if having two separate machines is that important to you, we can get two machines. also, of course we'll not always agree on things but you should know by now that when it comes to you i'm always ready to compromise.” jongdae kisses him in the cheek affectionately, before rising to his feet, hands still holding onto baekhyun's. “listen, we created something beautiful together, we're not viktor frankenstein and our relationship isn't the monster. we’re not perfect of course but this was never a mistake either. viktor fucked up but we won’t.”

“so you have read the book, huh?”

“i told you i'm not stupid. i just like to tease you about it.” jongdae pulls baekhyun to his feet, so he can hug his taller (by 1 cm, baekhyun made sure to remember that every time) boyfriend. “you know we work well together, right? we're not patched up parts of a monster, we’re the 2-in-1 machines that get the job done.”

“for someone who claims they're not dumb you sound really dumb right now,” baekhyun states while jongdae laughs against the crook of his neck. “never again in your life attempt literary references unless you attend my classes for adults first”

“that would be fun. i could be the teacher's pet,” jongdae gives baekhyun small pecks in between words. “i could sleep my way through an A.”

“first of all, you don't get a grade for this class, it's about learning. and second, i already have a favorite student, don't forget kyungsoo is taking my class.”

“i’ll have to destroy him.”

“sure babe, just make sure it's not in a game of charades because you suck at that.”

jongdae bites baekhyun's ear lightly, in retaliation for being called out on his poor charades skills. baekhyun just laughs and gropes his boyfriend's ass harshly. “you do have a nice ass though so i might make you my favorite student.”

“pervert.”

(they end up buying a 2-in-1 washer dryer after jongdae promises they can have sex against it at least once. they eventually do it and it settles their arguments: the wild machine moves of the fast cycle make jongdae tug baekhyun's hair harder than ever and when baekhyun's ass starts to get cold the heat of the dryer helps.)

**Author's Note:**

> be kind with your comments. :) 
> 
> this ended longer than i expected but i really enjoy writing baekchen so here it is  
>  
> 
>  


End file.
